Doctors-somnologists for precise determination of what causes of night insomnia in women, men, as well as children, adolescents and elderly people advise everyone individually to start a special diary in which patients mark important events of the past day: the time of eating;whether emotionally disturbing stressful experiences were;the time to go to bed and the approximate time of falling asleep.
Gradually, as a result of the analysis of entries in the diary, you can identify the possible causes of insomnia. Of course, to finally defeat sleep disorders, these things need to clearly know the answer to this question "why" and what to do when your sleep is stolen.
CONTENTS
Causes of sleep disorder
Sleep disturbance disorders
Sleep hygiene consists of many factors. It can be: a comfortable pillow, moderately hard bed, silence, comfortable temperature in the bedroom and the presence of fresh air. Often we wake up very early, when the first rays of the sun are bothering us through the loosely obscured windows. City noise and loud music also interrupt our sleep.
When the rules of good sleep are violated, the manifestations of insomnia are: the inability to sleep under severe fatigue;intermittent and superficial sleep and early awakenings.
Stressful situations, anxiety and anxiety in women and men
It is clear that in people who are hypochondriac in character and temperament, any problem is prone to exaggeration and a long thought-over, and this is exactly what happens when you need to fall asleep. This cause of insomnia is more typical for women, because they are subject to "self-discovery", "samoyedstvo" and excessive analysis of their "misdemeanors" and "shortcomings".
Stress provokes different situations: seasonal changes in the year, ruined plans, illnesses and unrequited love. The defenses of the body are suppressed and insomnia appears.
The work of the central nervous system due to stressful situations is loosened, a person can not really throw away problems, get distracted from them, it's impossible to relax at times.
Symptoms and signs of sleep disorders such as:
- appear because of the inability to fall asleep;
- the period of falling asleep is stretched for half an hour or more;
- people often wake up because of shallow sleep;
- in the sleep cycle the phase of rapid eye movement predominates, the person experiences nightmares and anxious dreams;
- drowsiness during the day and insomnia at night resistant;
- may be dizziness, fainting;
- vegetative symptoms: trembling in the limbs, inner shaking, palpitation, chest pain and frequent headaches;
Diseases of the nervous system
Here it should be noted: depression, neuroses, mental and nervous diseases, neuroinfections, concussions.
After all, for normal sleep, the coordinated activity of the central and peripheral nervous systems is needed. In the brain, there must be balance and a correct change in the processes of inhibition and excitation. In diseases and functional disorders of the nervous system, its mechanism fails. Then the processes of inhibition and excitation are completely in disrepair, which leads to serious disorders and sleep disorders.
For a normal sleep, a well-balanced work of the nervous system is necessary - in some parts of the brain braking processes predominate, and sleep centers are excited. During diseases and functional disorders of the nervous system, this mechanism fails. The processes of excitation and inhibition are no longer in equilibrium and this leads to serious sleep disorders.
Incorrect food
At night, overeating is very undesirable and, at the same time, hungry to go to bed, it's also not worth it. After a plentiful supper, the food is in the stomach until the very morning( the meat is especially hard to digest by the body).There is a rush of blood to the stomach, which causes a feeling of heaviness. Food is wandering and this is causing discomfort.
Symptoms: heaviness in the abdomen, restless sleep with frequent awakenings, a person turns in bed, unsuccessfully trying to take a comfortable position of the body.
Somatic diseases( bodily)
Any sleep disorders: infectious diseases, angina pectoris, hypertension, peptic ulcer and duodenal ulcer, thyrotoxicosis, prostate adenoma, arthrosis, itchy dermatitis. Minor discomforts with painful sensations, intoxication cause short-term insomnia. Prolonged sleep disorders cause chronic diseases, which lead to a prolonged malfunction of daily biological rhythms.
Symptoms: anxiety, obsessive thoughts, poor health does not allow you to fall asleep;sleep is interrupted due to bouts of pain;constant daytime drowsiness.
Behavior that causes insomnia
This kind of insomnia is associated with deliberate sleep deprivation of one's own will to simply not sleep. Or it is involuntarily caused by emotional traumatic experiences of the psyche( divorce, nightmares, fear of illness, fear of darkness).A person experiences and is afraid of the arrival of the night. The processes of nervous excitation increase, and this prevents one from falling asleep.
Symptoms and features: to fall asleep you need three to four hours;sleep is full of anxious dreams and not deep;in the morning, fatigue and a sense of weakness.
Often, this form of insomnia occurs when visiting a guest and is associated with a particular place.
Biological clock failure and daily rhythm disturbances
When changing time zones due to airplane flights, daylight saving time, or due to night shift work, this happens. Adaptation to such changes is easier given to "owls", rather than "larks".
The body can not restructure and be ready for bed. And when you need to sleep, in the body, on the contrary, the body temperature is raised, in the blood of hormones and glucose and "splashes", you are full of vigor. The result is insomnia. Of course, that an active change in the type of activity, work at night also violates the biological rhythm of day and night. The sleep preparation is shifted to a later time.
Manifestations: the drowsy state comes only in the morning, because a person feels vigor and activity in the evening and at night, which does not make it possible to fall asleep;During the daytime, sleepiness is very evident and efficiency, concentration of attention and sharpness of memorization are reduced.
Bedwetting( enuresis)
Approximately one-quarter of preschool, adolescent and 1% adults have bed-wetting, or enuresis. It is caused by various causes: neuroses, infectious and other diseases of the urinary tract, diabetes mellitus, hyperthyroidism, allergy or simply immaturity of the nervous system. Every evening there is a fear that urination can occur without control. And the dream itself is perceived as a threat. Because of this, sleep is upset.
Features: frequent awakening with the fear of wetting the bed, superficial sensitive sleep, waking up to empty the bladder, difficult falling asleep.
Snoring and breathing disorders in sleep( apnea)
Snoring and apnea( temporary respiratory arrest) is a serious problem that occurs in one-quarter of men and 15% of women. During sleep, the larynx relaxes and for some time blocks the air entrance to the lungs. The cause of snoring can be adenoids, swollen tonsils, excess weight, curvature of nasal septums, large upper( palatine) tongue.
Apnea is caused by inadequate stimulation of nerve centers in the brain. Such a delay in breathing in a dream can be observed not 10 or more seconds five times in one hour. For any reason, this category of oxygen is not enough. A person is forced to wake up to normalize the respiratory rhythm and 20 and even 40 times in one night only!
Manifestations:
- the person feels not slept and not rested, although there is no problem with falling asleep and the duration of sleep;
- frequent awakenings interrupt the physiological processes that must occur in the brain, the nervous system during sleep;
- intrusive headache during the day;
- in the daytime dulls memory and attention, there is irritability.
Taking medication and stimulant substances
Everyone knows that caffeine and other stimulating substances in strong tea, coffee, cola, nicotine, alcohol, black chocolate, amphetamines, cocaine stimulate the nervous system. Reserve forces of the body are activated, this prevents sleep. The duration of the deep phase of sleep decreases. This phenomenon is often when quickly quit smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages depending on alcohol and tobacco.
A lot of drugs that cause insomnia:
- Antidepressants: sertraline, venlafaxine, fluoxetine, paroxetine strongly activate nervous processes. But, Imipramine and Desipramine cause drowsiness and insomnia at the same time.
- The drug for the treatment of bronchial asthma: Theophylline( theoephedrine) excites the nervous system, and sleep becomes short-lived and disturbing.
- Monoamine oxidase inhibitors: Tranylcypromine and phenelzine, used in nervous disorders, make sleep jerky and fragmentary. This makes a person often wake up.
- Drugs for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases: hydrochlorothiazide, methyldopa, propranolol, furosemide, quinidine lead to difficult falling asleep. Sleep also becomes jerky and shallow.
Sleep movements and restless legs syndrome
In children and adults, involuntary movements of the hands and feet can be during sleep and before falling asleep several times per minute. It can also bind in women with pregnancy, in patients and in elderly people with a special feature of the brain, arthritis, diabetes, impaired circulation of the spinal cord, anemia, uremia, chronic kidney disease, leukemia. Constant movements cause a person to wake up and prevent them from falling asleep. Well, if in the norm, in the second phase of sleep comes immobilization of muscles.
Symptoms and symptoms manifest themselves in addition to movements in: the inability to fall asleep due to discomfort;frequent awakenings from unpleasant sensations in the legs and sudden movements;fatigue and frustration in the morning;drowsiness and irritability during the day.
Elderly age
Older people with age, there is a decrease in physical activity, and they do not seem to need a long sleep. But still need to sleep for seven to eight hours a day for a full rest and recovery. The very reduction of night sleep people perceive as insomnia. Emerging diseases and changes in the activity of the nervous system worsen sleep.
With age, physical activity decreases, people do not need a long sleep. But at the same time it remains a psychological need to sleep for 7-8 hours a day. Reducing night sleep is perceived as insomnia. In addition, sleep worsens numerous diseases and changes in the work of the nervous system.
Older people fall asleep early and wake up early in the morning, experience drowsiness during the day and a strong desire to lie in bed.
Heredity of
There is an opinion that the propensity to insomnia is inherited. It is believed that this is due to the lack of development of the so-called "sleep hormone" and the inferior work of the sleep center in the cerebellum. Similar sleep disorders are observed in parents and in children of patients.
Treatment of insomnia
Naturally, the treatment of insomnia in all categories of people: in men and women, in children, adolescents and elderly people should be carried out with the recommendations of a therapist, neurologist and under their control.
Useful tips for
Some useful tips on how to overcome insomnia you can get on these site pages:
- How to improve sleep for an adult and an elderly person
- Tortured for insomnia, what to do - folk remedies will help
- Suffers insomnia, what to do at home